Originally posted by David_Wolfpa It doesn't bother me if a few words are misspelled or theres some incorrect grammar in a post.. sure if the whole post is full of it, it might make it a bit harder to read, but what does bother me is the attitude of some people on the internetz that seem to think they can talk down to people and question their intelligence because of a few lines of bad grammar or spelling. I don't get it, either they are English teachers and are used to correcting the errors, or they get kicks from trying to prove to themselves that even though they live in their parents basement (unemployed, not showered for weeks and wearing a beer stained tank top with cake crumbs all down it) they aren't failures and are more intelligent because they have better spelling/grammar skills than some random Joe on the internet, who is probably only 15 anyway. I'm not saying this is anyone in this thread! just in general about some individuals I've encountered on my internet journey's that just make me think "WHY bother!?" even if you correct one guys spelling/grammar, chances are he/she will take it as a flame or a derogatory comment and won't even take on board what's been said and will be posting with the same mistakes 5 minutes later anyway!.
I know a few professors of linguistics and I can tell you that they absolutely adore leetspeak; it's the biggest thing of linguistic interest to happen in decades and they are fascinated by it.
Anyway, if you really want to test your grammar ability then consider this sentence:
John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom.
This sentence is incorrect. If you cannot identify and explain the error then you have no right to criticize others over common punctuation or spelling errors. The first person to recognize and explain the error gets a grammar-tastic high-five!
If posts on forums like these are "relatively" easy to follow then I have no problem with common/simple grammar and punctuation errors.
Oh, by the way, I am an English teacher and I do make grammar and spelling mistakes when I am in a rush and wriitng on forums because I recognize that, er, it's a forum and not a formal, professional context .
I know a few professors of linguistics and I can tell you that they absolutely adore leetspeak; it's the biggest thing of linguistic interest to happen in decades and they are fascinated by it. Anyway, if you really want to test your grammar ability then consider this sentence: John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom. This sentence is incorrect. If you cannot identify and explain the error then you have no right to criticize others over common punctuation or spelling errors. The first person to recognize and explain the error gets a grammar-tastic high-five! If posts on forums like these are "relatively" easy to follow then I have no problem with common/simple grammar and punctuation errors. Oh, by the way, I am an English teacher and I do make grammar and spelling mistakes when I am in a rush and wriitng on forums because I recognize that, er, it's a forum and not a formal, professional context . Regards, Melmoth LOL. edited for grammar mistakes
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear.
It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable).
So do I get my grammar-tastic high five?
Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth?
PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
Even if it's not your first language, you can still use interpunction to make your posts readable.
I see it more and more in forums and chatrooms that people just dump garbage onto their keyboard and hit the button. The newest trend is to simply ignore all rules of interpunction and just brabble countless words and acronyms in 400 word mega-sentences.
A well structured post is easier to read, easier to understand and makes me want to read more. A huge wall of text without any structure makes me want to vomit.
If you ask me, it's a problem that's widespread, and makes reading forums a pain. English forums are even more civilized at parts, although the widespread chatspeak ("i c u 2" or whatever) is pretty painful to read. I've worked as a moderator on several german forums and even chatrooms, and i can tell you it gets worse every year.
I've seen enough people of my age starting to speak like they write, and vice versa.
Whenever my faith in humanity has recovered too much, i just visit one or two popular german chat communities, and i'm cured. *scnr*
Oh my god, you didnt capitalize your I.
You are rude and that made your post UNREADABLE.
/sarcasm off <--Oh snap. Do you understand?
I don't know if it was in 07 or 06, but I remember. Reading a case study that pointed to parallels between people that correct others, and those that have superiority complexes. After continuing to read the post in this thread. I don't think the college students that did the researching, were too far off.
Hey Im all for thinking outside of the box and Im pretty sure thats what I was trying to get you to do.
Oh yeah anyways, Im not superior. Im Nappoleon :P
BTW take a peak at the link on my post (the one before your first)
You might find that interesting.
Is it just me or are the same kids that think there genius's because they went to college as arrogant as the kids who raid in WOW with there Leet EPics.
The similiarities are all there.
The WoW crowd strokes the epeen in front of Orgrimar.
The Blue Bloods name drop and brag.
Sorry, that superiority comment wasn't directed at you, it was batolemaeus. As for the WoW comment, I do believe you make a good point. Same thing can be said about the hardcore pvp crowd and hardcore fanboy's. Humanity is just one big ball of craziness, surrounded by layers of various complexes. At least that's how I view us .
In War - Victory. In Peace - Vigilance. In Death - Sacrifice.
I know a few professors of linguistics and I can tell you that they absolutely adore leetspeak; it's the biggest thing of linguistic interest to happen in decades and they are fascinated by it. Anyway, if you really want to test your grammar ability then consider this sentence: John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom. This sentence is incorrect. If you cannot identify and explain the error then you have no right to criticize others over common punctuation or spelling errors. The first person to recognize and explain the error gets a grammar-tastic high-five! If posts on forums like these are "relatively" easy to follow then I have no problem with common/simple grammar and punctuation errors. Oh, by the way, I am an English teacher and I do make grammar and spelling mistakes when I am in a rush and wriitng on forums because I recognize that, er, it's a forum and not a formal, professional context . Regards, Melmoth LOL. edited for grammar mistakes
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear.
It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable).
So do I get my grammar-tastic high five?
Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth?
PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
You made a mistake. Can we burn you at the stake now?
In War - Victory. In Peace - Vigilance. In Death - Sacrifice.
I know a few professors of linguistics and I can tell you that they absolutely adore leetspeak; it's the biggest thing of linguistic interest to happen in decades and they are fascinated by it. Anyway, if you really want to test your grammar ability then consider this sentence: John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom. This sentence is incorrect. If you cannot identify and explain the error then you have no right to criticize others over common punctuation or spelling errors. The first person to recognize and explain the error gets a grammar-tastic high-five! If posts on forums like these are "relatively" easy to follow then I have no problem with common/simple grammar and punctuation errors. Oh, by the way, I am an English teacher and I do make grammar and spelling mistakes when I am in a rush and wriitng on forums because I recognize that, er, it's a forum and not a formal, professional context . Regards, Melmoth LOL. edited for grammar mistakes
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear.
It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable).
So do I get my grammar-tastic high five?
Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth?
PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
You made a mistake. Can we burn you at the stake now?
Sure.
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear. It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable). So do I get my grammar-tastic high five? Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth? PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
Well done, you get the high-five. Lol, your explanation is better than the one I had in mind.
There are plenty of people on these (or any other) forums that do not speak and / or write English very well, simply because they live in other countries.
Not to mention that even more people do not hold a degree in the English language either (I've seen some words being tossed around I've never heard before).
I can't help but immediately think of the words "Spelling Nazi". Seriously, L33t talk is common, but a lot of people simply can't type English very well. Get over it.
I. Your vs you're your = belonging to you you're= contraction for "you are" ( and is different from "your") These words are not interchangeable. II. There vs they're vs their There = a different place from the one you currently occupy They're= contraction for "they are" Their= belonging to them These words are not interchangeable.
I despise illiteracy or intellectual laziness. Get it right before your high school English teachers slap your parents. It takes less than one minute to proofread (you internet generation dancing monkeys might have to look that one up) a post. I'm not talking about typos here ... I'm talking about selecting the correct word in the first place. And, please, do not give me that "you know what I mean" crap. You can point to your mouth and rub your stomach and I know you are hungry ... But it's still not English.
There doesn't have to be for a place - It can also mean for a different time.
Playing: Xsyon. Played: Tried: Ultima Online, Everquest 2, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Flyff, Perfect World, Silkroad Online, EVE Online, Ryzom.
Alright, I guess I'll give the answers to my possessives quiz.
To make a noun or a pronoun a possessive noun or pronoun, add 's.
Woman's
Women's
Chris's
Fonz's
James's
Hobbes's
Brother's
There are three exceptions to this rule:
1) Certain pronouns (it, his, her, your, our, their) are made possessive by adding s without the apostrophe.
Its
Theirs
2) Plural nouns or pronouns ending in 's' are made possessive by adding ' without the extra s.
Brothers'
3) It is customary that single word names from antiquity ending in an /s/ or /z/ sound are made possessive by adding ' only.
Jesus'
Socrates'
Why this matters:
"James's house" is a house of someone named James.
"James' house" is a house of many people with the surname James.
"Kurt enjoys his Toyota Prius's gas mileage" implies that Kurt has one Toyota Prius car.
"Kurt enjoys his Toyota Prius' gas mileage" implies that Kurt has a fleet of Toyota Prius cars.
"Lewis's Brother's Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of Lewis's brother.
"Lewis's Brothers' Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of Lewis's brothers.
"Lewis' Brother's Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of one of the Lewis brothers.
"Lewis' Brothers' Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of all of the Lewis brothers.
"Thomas' school" is a school named after St. Thomas.
"Thomas's school" is a school that Thomas attends.
I admit that this is a subtle point and that in most cases it doesn't matter. Unless you are trying to publish an article in ELH, it shouldn't matter. It certainly wasn't what I was taught in high school. I only learned about this when reading style manuals for my dissertation.
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
As long as the text is easy to read and I can understand what the author is trying to communicate, I don't care. I rarely bother with huge blocks of text not separated into paragraphs, though. They make my head swim.
Most of the people in my family are very articulate in both their native language and English, but they do make errors. I'd go insane if it bothered me. The people who get overly anal about proper spelling and grammar are likely to be the sort of people who would annoy me, anyway. Life is much too short. I can't take the time to be arsed about the wee petty things. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, you know! I would hate for my last thoughts to be about that bloke on MMORPG.com who wrote "loose" instead of "lose".
Thanks to everyone who tried to hijack this topic by making it about:
1. perfect grammar
2. perfect spelling
3. proper use of apostrophes
4. leetspeak
5. whether I am a grammarian, elitist, or otherwise flexing my linguistic acumen
6. WoW
However, I was only complaining about stupidity. I couldn't care less whether people use perfect grammar, spell correctly or properly use apostrophes, commas, semi-colons, etc. The issue I was trying to address is the fact that it appears many people do not know that there is a difference between they're, their and there or other assorted homonyms, and it is pissing off those of us who do. To me, it is a form of intellectual laziness; and, for those who adhere to that form of laziness, good luck finding a job in the real world. I used to hire for a company and the gross linguistic mistakes found in job applications was a neverending source of humor.
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
The issues already stated do annoy to an extent. However, my biggest pet peeve involves the comma and the inability of today's generation to use the comma properly. Just because you pause when speaking a sentence out loud does not mean a comma belongs in those pauses on paper!
Thanks to everyone who tried to hijack this topic by making it about: 1. perfect grammar 2. perfect spelling 3. proper use of apostrophes 4. leetspeak 5. whether I am a grammarian, elitist, or otherwise flexing my linguistic acumen 6. WoW However, I was only complaining about stupidity. I couldn't care less whether people use perfect grammar, spell correctly or properly use apostrophes, commas, semi-colons, etc. The issue I was trying to address is the fact that it appears many people do not know that there is a difference between they're, their and there or other assorted homonyms, and it is pissing off those of us who do. To me, it is a form of intellectual laziness; and, for those who adhere to that form of laziness, good luck finding a job in the real world. I used to hire for a company and the gross linguistic mistakes found in job applications was a neverending source of humor.
As they say in the legal shows, "you opened the door, council." If you start a flame thread, be prepared to take the heat.
What pisses me off is when people like you use hyphens needlessly, like "semi-colon," rather than semicolon. Your prose is also very turgid, repeating words needlessly.
You aren't the only one who does this, but I usually keep this to myself. After all, Socrates said justice was "minding one's own business, and not being a busybody." I found this advice works well.
...That is, until one "opens the door."
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
I wanted to throw this in because of personal experience.
When it comes to people who learn English as a 2nd or 3rd language and who perhaps don't live in an English speaking country, you need to consider that some of the languages they speak are wirtten phonetically such as my own native language. When it came to learning English, which at the time was my third language, my problems (though not so big) were with the double letters such as the two O's in door and the lack of phonetics when writing or reading. I would preffer it much better if the English language was more straight forward and eliminated a lot of the double letters (mississippi) or removing a lot of the useless silent letters in words (dumb). I think this would clear up a few of the problems and perhaps evolve the English language into something more streamlined.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
I can understand why you people ahte this stuff, but that is not gonna keep people from using it. Yes, i type fairly well when it comes to real life activities, i just do not want to be nitpicky when it comes to things like mmo's, i don;t like to keep people waiting, so i try to respond very fast. I do not use "Text" speech much in games, only at time where I am beat from RL. Most of these things you are talking about, are simply mistakes from hitting the keys on the keyboard at the right place. And mmo's unfortunately don't have spell check, and if it did, then no one would use it. All I am saying, that for many people, it is either more convenient to use it, or for me, it is more convenient and i make lotz of mistakes with my big grubby fingers.
Comments
I resent that! My tank top is coffee stained....
I know a few professors of linguistics and I can tell you that they absolutely adore leetspeak; it's the biggest thing of linguistic interest to happen in decades and they are fascinated by it.
Anyway, if you really want to test your grammar ability then consider this sentence:
John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom.
This sentence is incorrect. If you cannot identify and explain the error then you have no right to criticize others over common punctuation or spelling errors. The first person to recognize and explain the error gets a grammar-tastic high-five!
If posts on forums like these are "relatively" easy to follow then I have no problem with common/simple grammar and punctuation errors.
Oh, by the way, I am an English teacher and I do make grammar and spelling mistakes when I am in a rush and wriitng on forums because I recognize that, er, it's a forum and not a formal, professional context .
Regards,
Melmoth
LOL. edited for grammar mistakes
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear.
It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable).
So do I get my grammar-tastic high five?
Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth?
PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
It's not laziness, it's just plain rudeness.
Even if it's not your first language, you can still use interpunction to make your posts readable.
I see it more and more in forums and chatrooms that people just dump garbage onto their keyboard and hit the button. The newest trend is to simply ignore all rules of interpunction and just brabble countless words and acronyms in 400 word mega-sentences.
A well structured post is easier to read, easier to understand and makes me want to read more. A huge wall of text without any structure makes me want to vomit.
If you ask me, it's a problem that's widespread, and makes reading forums a pain. English forums are even more civilized at parts, although the widespread chatspeak ("i c u 2" or whatever) is pretty painful to read. I've worked as a moderator on several german forums and even chatrooms, and i can tell you it gets worse every year.
I've seen enough people of my age starting to speak like they write, and vice versa.
Whenever my faith in humanity has recovered too much, i just visit one or two popular german chat communities, and i'm cured. *scnr*
Oh my god, you didnt capitalize your I.
You are rude and that made your post UNREADABLE.
/sarcasm off <--Oh snap. Do you understand?
I don't know if it was in 07 or 06, but I remember. Reading a case study that pointed to parallels between people that correct others, and those that have superiority complexes. After continuing to read the post in this thread. I don't think the college students that did the researching, were too far off.
Hey Im all for thinking outside of the box and Im pretty sure thats what I was trying to get you to do.
Oh yeah anyways, Im not superior. Im Nappoleon :P
BTW take a peak at the link on my post (the one before your first)
You might find that interesting.
Is it just me or are the same kids that think there genius's because they went to college as arrogant as the kids who raid in WOW with there Leet EPics.
The similiarities are all there.
The WoW crowd strokes the epeen in front of Orgrimar.
The Blue Bloods name drop and brag.
Sorry, that superiority comment wasn't directed at you, it was batolemaeus. As for the WoW comment, I do believe you make a good point. Same thing can be said about the hardcore pvp crowd and hardcore fanboy's. Humanity is just one big ball of craziness, surrounded by layers of various complexes. At least that's how I view us
.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
this has nothing to do with mmo's.
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear.
It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable).
So do I get my grammar-tastic high five?
Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth?
PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
You made a mistake. Can we burn you at the stake now?
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
In "John doesn't like Kevin smoking in the bathroom," it is unclear what John doesn't like. The sentence should be modified to make the distinction clear.
It could be canged to "John doesn't like Kevin's smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as a predicate noun. However, the sentence could also be changed to "John doesn't like Kevin for smoking in the bathroom." In this case, the adjective 'smoking' is being used as the object of a prepositional phrase (unorthodox, but permissable).
So do I get my grammar-tastic high five?
Care to conjugate my possessives, Melmoth?
PS: I agree with you about 'leetspeak' in academia. Emotes are especially interesting, because they seem to be an entirely new part of speech unprecedented in the history of written language. I can't think of any part of speech that conveys the state of mind of the writer. Can you?
You made a mistake. Can we burn you at the stake now?
Sure.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
You are car is ford.
And I have seen the word "teh" in way too many documents to be counted.
Just face the facts that the americans can't even spell anymore.
Well done, you get the high-five. Lol, your explanation is better than the one I had in mind.
Regards,
Melmoth
There are plenty of people on these (or any other) forums that do not speak and / or write English very well, simply because they live in other countries.
Not to mention that even more people do not hold a degree in the English language either (I've seen some words being tossed around I've never heard before).
I can't help but immediately think of the words "Spelling Nazi". Seriously, L33t talk is common, but a lot of people simply can't type English very well. Get over it.
Alright, let's go with Rogue Vs. Rouge then! :P
Rouge mean "red" in french,
Rogue is a class in many MMORPGs.
There doesn't have to be for a place - It can also mean for a different time.
Playing: Xsyon.
Played:
Tried: Ultima Online, Everquest 2, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Flyff, Perfect World, Silkroad Online, EVE Online, Ryzom.
I am really happy that people are still fighting for the correct literacy of English and not trolling around .
As myself am not a native English speaker i do support your cause
Alright, I guess I'll give the answers to my possessives quiz.
To make a noun or a pronoun a possessive noun or pronoun, add 's.
Woman's
Women's
Chris's
Fonz's
James's
Hobbes's
Brother's
There are three exceptions to this rule:
1) Certain pronouns (it, his, her, your, our, their) are made possessive by adding s without the apostrophe.
Its
Theirs
2) Plural nouns or pronouns ending in 's' are made possessive by adding ' without the extra s.
Brothers'
3) It is customary that single word names from antiquity ending in an /s/ or /z/ sound are made possessive by adding ' only.
Jesus'
Socrates'
Why this matters:
"James's house" is a house of someone named James.
"James' house" is a house of many people with the surname James.
"Kurt enjoys his Toyota Prius's gas mileage" implies that Kurt has one Toyota Prius car.
"Kurt enjoys his Toyota Prius' gas mileage" implies that Kurt has a fleet of Toyota Prius cars.
"Lewis's Brother's Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of Lewis's brother.
"Lewis's Brothers' Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of Lewis's brothers.
"Lewis' Brother's Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of one of the Lewis brothers.
"Lewis' Brothers' Dry Goods" is the dry goods store of all of the Lewis brothers.
"Thomas' school" is a school named after St. Thomas.
"Thomas's school" is a school that Thomas attends.
I admit that this is a subtle point and that in most cases it doesn't matter. Unless you are trying to publish an article in ELH, it shouldn't matter. It certainly wasn't what I was taught in high school. I only learned about this when reading style manuals for my dissertation.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
As long as the text is easy to read and I can understand what the author is trying to communicate, I don't care. I rarely bother with huge blocks of text not separated into paragraphs, though. They make my head swim.
Most of the people in my family are very articulate in both their native language and English, but they do make errors. I'd go insane if it bothered me. The people who get overly anal about proper spelling and grammar are likely to be the sort of people who would annoy me, anyway. Life is much too short. I can't take the time to be arsed about the wee petty things. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, you know! I would hate for my last thoughts to be about that bloke on MMORPG.com who wrote "loose" instead of "lose".
lolwut?
Thanks to everyone who tried to hijack this topic by making it about:
1. perfect grammar
2. perfect spelling
3. proper use of apostrophes
4. leetspeak
5. whether I am a grammarian, elitist, or otherwise flexing my linguistic acumen
6. WoW
However, I was only complaining about stupidity. I couldn't care less whether people use perfect grammar, spell correctly or properly use apostrophes, commas, semi-colons, etc. The issue I was trying to address is the fact that it appears many people do not know that there is a difference between they're, their and there or other assorted homonyms, and it is pissing off those of us who do. To me, it is a form of intellectual laziness; and, for those who adhere to that form of laziness, good luck finding a job in the real world. I used to hire for a company and the gross linguistic mistakes found in job applications was a neverending source of humor.
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
I want to thank the OP for trying to help educate the people out there.
Yes, it matters. No, you will not be taken as seriously if you do not know simple things like this.
The issues already stated do annoy to an extent. However, my biggest pet peeve involves the comma and the inability of today's generation to use the comma properly. Just because you pause when speaking a sentence out loud does not mean a comma belongs in those pauses on paper!
u r so kewl.
As they say in the legal shows, "you opened the door, council." If you start a flame thread, be prepared to take the heat.
What pisses me off is when people like you use hyphens needlessly, like "semi-colon," rather than semicolon. Your prose is also very turgid, repeating words needlessly.
You aren't the only one who does this, but I usually keep this to myself. After all, Socrates said justice was "minding one's own business, and not being a busybody." I found this advice works well.
...That is, until one "opens the door."
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
I wanted to throw this in because of personal experience.
When it comes to people who learn English as a 2nd or 3rd language and who perhaps don't live in an English speaking country, you need to consider that some of the languages they speak are wirtten phonetically such as my own native language. When it came to learning English, which at the time was my third language, my problems (though not so big) were with the double letters such as the two O's in door and the lack of phonetics when writing or reading. I would preffer it much better if the English language was more straight forward and eliminated a lot of the double letters (mississippi) or removing a lot of the useless silent letters in words (dumb). I think this would clear up a few of the problems and perhaps evolve the English language into something more streamlined.
No required quests! And if I decide I want to be an assassin-cartographer-dancer-pastry chef who lives only to stalk and kill interior decorators, then that's who I want to be, even if it takes me four years to max all the skills and everyone else thinks I'm freaking nuts. -Madimorga-
I can understand why you people ahte this stuff, but that is not gonna keep people from using it. Yes, i type fairly well when it comes to real life activities, i just do not want to be nitpicky when it comes to things like mmo's, i don;t like to keep people waiting, so i try to respond very fast. I do not use "Text" speech much in games, only at time where I am beat from RL. Most of these things you are talking about, are simply mistakes from hitting the keys on the keyboard at the right place. And mmo's unfortunately don't have spell check, and if it did, then no one would use it. All I am saying, that for many people, it is either more convenient to use it, or for me, it is more convenient and i make lotz of mistakes with my big grubby fingers.
Yes we do.
No we don't
Actually....YES we do.
To the OP, this bothers me as well. I care, quite a bit, thank you for posting this